Friday, August 1, 2008

PRODDY SHEEP AND OTHER THINGS ~ ~ ~

This is the sheep rug that was our project when a group went to England two years ago. Cilla Cameron taught us the proddy portion and Heather Ritchie taught the stone wall background ~ what a challenge that was!! Heather's sample rug was a purple sheep and I latched onto one of the purple wool packets that was offered!! Then we chose 4 or 5 pieces of wool that Heather custom dyed for the stone walls. Kris Miller and I took close-up pix of Heather's stone wall hooking and it definitely helped when I was hooking this back home without her input! Heather had dyed Wensleydale fleece for sale and several packages of that came home with me ~ some purple went in the sheep body and I improvised on the pattern a bit and used the green for grass under the little sheep feet. I also made an attempt at a proddy flower at the end of the grass!! Those rock walls were the hardest thing to hook in such a fashion that it looked like stones ~ Heather lived her lifetime surrounded by all that texture and it was second nature for her but for most of us, it was a struggle! On my England Memory Rug, I prodded a smallish purple sheep into the top right of the rug to commemorate our reason for being in England in the first place.

There is an online rug hooking forum that I frequent and there are several rug hooking challenges that have been set up recently. The one that I joined is Unfinished Objects and you can check it out at http://www.uforughookers.blogspot.com/. So many rug hookers have pieces they've started and get put aside so this is a way to tackle that UFO and be held accountable through the team blog they've set up. It will be fun and productive, for sure! Mine is a rug of my grandchilren's hands that I started two years ago ~ the picture and story about it are on that blog site.

Several weeks ago, I posted about my sister, Joyce, having an embolism and heart attack. I'm happy to report that she is doing well ~ she even went out last week and did her Meals on Wheels route ~ hello !!!! She said her doctor said to do what she felt up to doing and she did!! We're a tough bunch and I know she doesn't want to let this get the best of her ~ I give her a lot of credit for that. She started hooking about the same time I did but hasn't pursued it as much ~ she mentioned that her hooking is shreddy and she doesn't hook fast, etc. I sent her the Hartman Hook this week and am waiting to hear if it's helped! I sell them now, because it made all the difference for me in regard to the ease of hooking with wide cuts! I hope she likes it and it gets her hooking again!
Another weekend is here ~ a new month has started! Does time fly for all of you like it does here? Holy crow ~ it's hard to keep up sometimes!! Take care and have a good weekend!
Alice

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Alice, Alice, Alice,

Your talents at rug hooking, decorating, gardening, and God knows what else are truly fabulous!

I love this proddy sheep, the purples are to dye (get it) for, and the stone looks so realistic. You amaze me everytime I visit your blog.

Have a great weekend,

Trudy

Jacque. said...

Hey Alice...I am blown away by your sheepie rug. I enlarged it to get a better view of (especially) the stone wall. Who'da thunk all those colors produced that gorgeous piece!!!

How'd you do the fringing on the edges? I assume it's proddy, but is it attached in any way? Is this rug hanging up in your gorgeous house?

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Hi Girls!! Yes ~ I got it "to dye for" ~ you're funny, Miss Trudy!! The border is proddy ~ two rows of it against the two rows of hooking. I proddied thru just the one layer of backing and then serged about a 1" border and then bound it with wool rather than rug tape! I use both and love to use a strip of wool that I tear about 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" wide and stitch very close to the hooking so that no foundation fabric shows at the edge of the rug. He hangs in the dining area of the living room ~ I just love that purple guy!!
Alice

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kris Miller said...

Hi Alice,
Your sheep rug looks fabulous! Your stone wall turned out awesome too. I've not finished my rug yet-LOL-but I swear I'm going to!!! You are right, the stone wall is the hardest part, that's probably why my mat is not done. I think your stones look great...my wall looks more like a crazy quilt.
Sigh, keep up the lovely hooking!
Kris

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Thanks, Kris ~ as I remember your walls looked pretty darn good ~ you just have to tackle it again. If I hadn't done mine right away, it would be sitting also ~ wonder if we'll ever hook stone walls again?
Alice

BeFRuiTFuL KReaTioNS said...

Wow your proddy sheep is wonderful. The purple packet was the way to go. The colors are fantastic. I am interested in proddy it is something I have not done.

From a fellow hooker.
JoEllen

Texas RugBug said...

Alice,
I love the sheep on the stone wall. Can you tell us the theory behind hooking that wall? Is that your pattern or Heather's?
Martha

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